What Comes With Tort Reform?
Texans for Lawsuit Reform is the biggest and richest tort reform group in the state. No surprise there. But as its political action committee has become the dominant financial engine for legislative races, it has helped create a Legislature that’s not only more conservative about legal issues, but more conservative, period.
For a good long while, TLR’s money tended to push out Democrats who, when considering civil justice issues, tended to vote with the state’s trial lawyers. Tort reform's battlefields have changed over the years, from trucking deregulation to workers’ compensation insurance reform, through the political ...
Comments (4)
Bill Carson
That is a great deal of power for a group that does not have to disclose donors or financial contributors.
Kim Batchelor via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Let's call "tort reform" what it is: accountability restriction. There are reasonable alternatives to limiting frivolous suits without these draconian restrictions. Ask my brother-in-law who suffered repeated medical errors in a Waco hospital where the staff didn't care whether or not the errors were corrected.
Anna Mae Rooks
Tort Reform is the most mean-spirited piece of legislation ever passed in my lifetime. Who benefits? Certainly not those poor souls who are maimed or killed by medical recklessness or negligence. The real winners are doctors and insurance companies. We were told that we would see a dramatic drop in the cost of healthcare if Tort Reform was passed (a lie), that rural areas would be better served (a lie), and that more doctors would come to Texas. Why wouldn't they, knowing that no matter how inept, incompetent, reckless, or negligent they may be, they are never held accountable for their misdeeds - they are untouchable. ALL med/mal cases are considered "junk claims" or "frivolous, regardless if the patient was killed or permanently disabled due to recklessness or gross negligence. Patients are victimized twice; once by the medical community and again by the state who has locked the court house doors for those who have been killed or maimed by doctors.
Who reaps the benefits of Tort Reform? Certainly not Texans, but rather the insurance companies who are laughing all the way to the bank.
Daniel Horowitz
Everyone should watch the documentary "Hot Coffee".